The kinetics study on sulfonation reaction of continuous microfluidic synthesis of 1-tetradecene

Sulfonation of 1-tetradecene with liquid-phase sulfur trioxide generates simultaneously the alkene sulfonic acid and alkene sulfonate. The kinetics study is contributed to a deeper understanding of the sulfonation reaction and better controlling the process. The continuous microfluidic system was established to determine the kinetic parameters of 1-tetradecene sulfonation. A comprehensive kinetic model was developed, and the kinetic parameters were obtained. The activation energy is 14.7 ± 0.8 kJ mol−1, with a pre-exponential factor of 118.4 ± 1.4. The reaction order for 1-tetradecene is second-order, and for sulfur trioxide, the reaction order is 0.3. By discretizing the reactor into microelements and conducting mass balance on each differential element method, integrating the obtained reaction kinetics model, calculating the required reaction time, and comparing it with experimental data within a reasonable range of error, the correctness of the derived reaction kinetics model has been verified.